Holidays? When were the holidays?

As we age we all say the same thing at the same time every year, "wow, I just CAN'T believe how FAST this season has gone by...(say it with me) it just keeps getting faster every year!" Now while I don't necessarily wish to recite this particular litany, I will say this, "holy cow! It is difficult for me to conceptualize the rapidity of this and the last month of last year. I perceived that prior to this particular rotation round the sun, the festivities of the holiday season perhaps were a tad more prolonged." Totally different.

Over the last few weeks much excitement transpired within the walls of our home-Kiera turned the mystical magical 6 months old in December (and will turn 7 months tomorrow!) and mastered the art of sitting up. Since then she has been focused on rockin' out-on her hands and knees that is. We've been saying "she's gonna crawl any day now" for about two weeks. With her it's all about the motivation. She just hasn't found a good enough reason to do it yet. When she does, off she'll go! She's started sampling food, which is a mixed bag--she LOVES eating with us, and loves what she's tried so far (apples, bananas, and sweet potatoes), but unfortunately it doesn't love her. Her tummy is having some issues processing the new foods, and really we should hold off a few more weeks (little known fact-infant digestive tracts aren't finished developing until 9 months)....but I think our little sweetheart might begin to tremble, swell, turn green (baby MMAAAADDDDDDD) and rip out of her diaper if we stopped. She REALLY likes to eat. Luckily she's appeased by small chunks in a mesh pouch/feeder that she can chew and suck on while we eat. ALSO, she cut two new teeth! She now has all four front teeth, and enjoys rubbing them with her tongue and grinding them together (yikes!). Mommy isn't enjoying them as much while Kiera figures out what she can and CAN'T use them for.

Coincidentally, the same day Kiera cut her left upper tooth, Garrett lost his. WEIRD. He is now totally gap-faced on top, missing his opportunity to express his desire for two front teeth by a mere week and a half. Another milestone for big G-he made the decision to cut his hair. For the last couple of years, he has been in charge of his hairstyle-much to Troy's dismay. Sorry hon, you're still the only one who didn't think he looked super-fly with his wavy shag 'do. I sat him down two days before Christmas for a quick trim. Every time I asked if it was short enough, he's say, "it's a little bit short enough." "Does that mean you want it shorter?" "ya, a little bit." We had this exchange so many times I had to finally get out the clippers. The worst part was Troy's smugness-like he had won a battle. See, he has always felt that I pressured G into the shaggy look-but really, he wanted it that way. It was a bonus that I liked it, too. I don't think Troy really believed me every time I said it was his choice--until he came in and saw me wielding the clippers and sniffling. Just one more notch in the "growing up" belt.

Poor Middle Child Morgan. Not a lot going on for her this last month-she had her final dance class for this session, and we got some adorable video of her demonstrating what she'd learned. She still wears her "dancing clothes" whenever she has the opportunity. Her biggest piece of news would probably be the dollhouse she got for Christmas ("Oh look! A dollhouse! A dollhouse that's just for me!). We have a big dollhouse already, one Troy bought for me years ago. Last year we bought her dolls for it, and she's always allowed to play with it, but she knows it's Mommy's tiny house, and she can't do QUITE everything she'd like with it. It was terribly sweet, and a little sad, when her initial exclamations over her dollhouse were followed by a small sigh and, "I guess I can't play with Mommy's anymore." I reassured her that she could indeed still play with mine. Since she started playing with hers, she hasn't given mine a backwards glance.

January is always a tough month for us-recovering from the holidays plus being Troy's biggest "push" month at work, so we see less of him. I have taken on a bit more as well, adding the upper grade theater class to my teaching duties at school. I'm very excited about it, I love working with middle schoolers, but it's a very high-energy class and crew and getting their production of Hood (as in Robin) stage ready is going to take a LOT of work. At least we have until May.

Christmas was awesome, and will require a separate post which I probably won't ever write--but I will say that I haven't encountered many other families that could all reside in one house for 4 days without making each other insane. We had 15 people sleeping in our house, and it was so fun. Thank god for our big old house and its secret rooms-nobody even had to sleep in the living room! It was chaos and noise and mess, but it was worth it to see everyone in their PJ's Christmas morning.

And now we stumble into 2010, still rubbing our eyes and trying to catch up on the sleep we missed finishing off 2009! It just seems to go by faster every year!

Our walk in the wetlands was a little too much for her.

Big G (with his new haircut) displaying his gift for cramming an ungodly amount of frosting on a gingerbread cookie.

Kiera getting the giggles with Auntie Cissa

Morgan marveling at her new dollhouse (it talks and tells her what to do- c-REEE-py)

Playing with her new bumpy balls-she loves these things.